The Church of Oliver
by BlackCorp
Summary: AU XMenPower Rangers crossover. When two teenagers are abducted off the streets by strange cult with a powerful secret, their only hope may lay with the mercenary group known as the XMen. Chapter 5 is up!
1. Jebus Loves You

The Church Of Oliver  
By: BlackCorp

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** The X-Men and all related characters are the trademarked property of Marvel Entertainment. The Power Rangers and all related characters are trademarked property of the Walt Disney company. I claim no hold or rights on any of the characters in this story.

**Summary**: AU X-Men/Power Rangers crossover. When two teenagers are abducted off the streets by strange cult with a powerful secret, their only hope may lay with the mercenary group known as the X-Men.

* * *

A young woman with long, sandy blonde hair in a pair of jeans, her yellow shirt ripped open, struggled against the ties that bound her. She found herself tied to a king-sized bed with green satin sheets in a lavish bedroom decked out in the same color. She looked at the man in green robes standing above her with a devilish smile on his face. He looked to be around thirty-three, with long, jet-black hair. He reached down, running his hand over the young woman's tight stomach and enjoyed the feel of her soft supple skin as she protested. 

"Please, stop this! Let us go!"

"Now, now, my dear. Why would we want to do that? We only have your best interest at heart. After all, Jebus loves you."

"No, no, no!" the young woman cried out as the man leaned forward to kiss her. From out of nowhere, glass rained down atop them as a figure dressed in black fatigues with an AK-47 strapped to his shoulder, a com piece in his ear and a cigar in his mouth, came crashing through the skylight window. Aiming his weapon at the man in the green robes, he growled through clenched teeth.

"Back off, Jebus."

Seventy-two hours earlier at the Xavier estate, deep underground in the high-tech war room of the mercenary group known as the X-Men, the group's leader Charles Xavier consulted with the team's computer expert Sage. She was busy punching figures into Cerebra, one of the most advanced computer systems on earth. The pictures of two teenagers, Kira Ford and Trent Mercer, came up on screen. They were abducted off the street by a group calling themselves the Church of Oliver. The leader of this cult, who held a belief in what they called "The Morphing Grid," was Dr. Thomas Oliver. Dr. Oliver and his followers were demanding a ransom of five million dollars from Trent's adoptive father, Dr. Anton Mercer. Knowing the cult would never release the two even if he paid, Dr. Mercer used his connections to hire the X-Men to not only to retrieve Trent and his girlfriend, but to put an end to the Church of Oliver permanently.

"These two are the primary targets, Charles."

"Do we have visual conformation, Tessa?"

"Affirmative. I just got word from our operative on the inside. I have satellite surveillance of their ranch compound in California. I'm preparing to download it into the holographic matrix projector now."

"Excellent. I will prepare the team for debriefing. I want this mission underway in the next 72 hours."

In the present, in the Church of Oliver compound, three people in blue robes sat behind a row of computer monitors. The oldest, Billy, looked to be around forty. Beside him sat an eighteen-year old woman with long brown hair, and next to her, a young black man in his early twenties. They sat in silence, when suddenly Billy's computer flashed, alerting him to an intruder on the compound. He pushed back his chair and looked to the other in panic.

"Ethan, there is an intruder in Lord Oliver's room. Sound the alarm."

As Ethan reached to hit the alarm, the brunette in the middle raised quickly, thrusting the palm of her hand into Ethan's face, driving the cartilage of his nose into his brain and causing blood to spurt out as he fell to the floor dead. Before Billy could react to the shocking scene that was unfolding before him, the teenage girl jumped up, wrapping her legs around his neck. She quickly flipped over, driving his head hard to the floor then twisted his neck and broke it..

"Impressive, my dear, but then I knew there was something funny about you when you showed up a few days ago."

Kitty quickly turned and stood face to face with Dr. Thomas Oliver, dressed in black robes with short, spiky hair. With a slim yet toned build underneath his robes, most women would have found him attractive. Even though she always went for older men, Kitty felt nothing but disdain for Dr. Oliver and his church as shown by the scrawl on her face as she shifted her feet into a fighting stance.

Back in the bedroom of Thomas Oliver, another Thomas Oliver found himself face to face with an armed intruder who held an AK-47 pointed directly at him.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It's your choice, bub," the short, stout man said as he spit his cigar on to the green wool rug, catching it afire.

"Guards!" Oliver screamed as the flames shot up from the carpet. Four men then rushed in with automatic weapons, two in red robes, the other two in black robes.

"Jason, Zack, Adam, Rocky! Kill this non-believer!"

Before any of the guards could respond, the man rose his weapon and unloaded a clip, taking out all four guards before dropping it and turning his attention to Thomas Oliver who was now rushing for the door.

"Oliver, your robe is on fire."

As Thomas stopped to look at his robes, which had indeed been set afire from the flames that now engulfed the room, he felt a hand grab his shoulder. He was whipped around and punched hard in the gut. Oliver's eyes went wide in shock as three metal claws covered in blood came out his backside. As he dropped to the floor with his dying breath, he could be heard mumbling, "May the power protect me."

Rushing over to the bed, the man who killed Oliver used the same metal claws to cut the bonds holding the girl he was holding captive and wrapped her in a blanket. The flames grew higher and and parts of the ceiling began to fall around them.

"Who are you?"

"The name's Wolverine and I'm here to save your fine little ass. So, just shut up and let me do my job. Now, hold on. Things are about to get hot."

Lowering his head, Wolverine ran through the wall of flames and leaped out from the second story bedroom window. He used his own body to cushion the blow for Kira, rolling around to extinguish any flames still burning on his uniform under the full moon that filled the night sky.

"Well, that was a lot of fun." Wolverine smirked as he rose to one knee. It was at that moment he noticed Kira with a look of fear in her eyes. Standing behind Wolverine was Thomas Oliver in white flowing robes, and from the look of the huge weapon in his hand, he had an ax to grind with the X-Man on the ground before him.


	2. Catfight

"May the power protect you." Thomas Oliver recited his oath as he swung the ax down towards the head and neck of his enemy. A small red dot appeared in the middle of his chest and a hissing sound could be heard. A bullet penetrated his chest, blood splattering his white robes as he fell back to the ground, dropping the ax as Wolverine rolled out of the way.

"Cutting it close there, bub," Wolverine spoke in to a small microphone connected to his ear piece as he rolled to his feet.

"You're welcome," came a voice spoken from over a quarter mile away by a man perched atop one of the compounds many dorms. The man, who is in similar black fatigues with short brown hair, wearing a black eye patch, lays down his sniper rifle as he waits conformation on his next target.

"You were to eager to join us, my dear, yet you were too clean and well fed to have been on the street for years. So, tell me, just who do you work for? The local police, FBI, ATF? Oh, well. In the end it doesn't matter. The power will never fall into the corrupt hands of the government."

Shadowcat threw a number of punches and kicks to Dr. Thomas Oliver, yet due to his quickness, he dodged and blocked her every blow. "Thanks, Doc. I just wanted to see how good you were. Now that I have your measure, though, it's time to get serious."

She landed a solid uppercut to his jaw, then followed up with a roundhouse kick to the side of the head, sending the doctor crashing to the ground.. Moving in for the kill, Shadowcat removed the blue robe she was wearing, revealing black combat fatigues in its place. Strapped to her side was a large, sharp-bladed knife with a brass knuckle handle.

"Your security sure lacks for such a paranoid man, Doc, to allow me to have snuck this in." She removed the blade from her side preparing to strike.

"Hold it right there, bitch."

Shadowcat turned, finding herself face to face with two women; one a brunette in a pink leather body suit, the other a blond in a matching pink body suit.

"Kimberly, Catherine, kill this heathen!"

In another part of the compound, a man with short brown hair in black fatigues with a long black trenchcoat and black shades, had kicked open the door to a small room where he had found his target: a young man of Hispanic decent tied to a chair. His mouth was gagged, and his white T-shirt and jeans were covered in blood. His face bruised and battered, he looked up through swollen eyes at the man who now stood over him, brandishing a huge knife. He cut the ropes that bound the teenager.

"You had better be able to walk, kid, because I refuse to carry you," the man stated coldly, sliding the knife back into its sheath.

"You aren't taking him anywhere."

Standing in the door was a young man in a red robe with medium-length, shaggy brown hair. Shifting his feet, he moved into a martial arts stance. An African American male, wearing only a red thong, rushed to his side, prepared to join the fight.

"What do you call that, the Battle Thong?" he sarcastically questioned his comrade.

"I didn't have time to get dressed when the alarm was tripped, and who are you to talk?"

Without so much as a word, the other man pulled a pair of 45's out from under his coat. He then shot both of the young men. No emotion could be seen on his face as he committed this act of cold-blooded murder.

"You killed them in cold blood!"

"They were annoying me. You're starting to annoy me, too, as a matter of fact." Reaching up and placing his hand to the ear piece, he spoke in the microphone attachment. "Iceman to Cyclops. I have retrieved the primary target and am heading to the rendezvous location."

"Roger that, Iceman. Wolverine has retrieved the secondary target. I'm waiting conformation from our insider and will meet you there."

Shadowcat found herself lurched back from a kick to the gut from Catherine. Before she could recover, Kimberly struck her from behind with a double-edge knife chop to the back. Catherine then kicked her in the jaw, sending her flying back into rows of computers. Gathering herself right as Kimberly kicked at her, she grabbed her by the leg with a swift twist and broke it, sending the brunette to the ground screaming in pain. Not wasting a moment, Shadowcat thrust the palm of her hand into her chest with a blow that collapsed her heart, effectively killing her.

"Good job, darlin'." She turned to see Wolverine standing by the door with claws coming through Catherine's chest, blood pouring down her pink body suit as he dropped her to the floor. Walking over to her teammate, she wrapped her arms around his neck, licking his ear before embracing him in a passionate kiss.

"Miss me, lover?"

"What do you think, darlin'?" he answered with a slight wink.

"You have not won yet! I will never allow the government to have control of the power!" Dr. Oliver then punched a sequence of buttons into one on the computer consoles. Suddenly the floor opened up, a chute allowing his escape before either X-Man could reach him.

"What's he talking about?"

"He seems to think we're with the government."

Shadowcat looked over the screen where a countdown clock had begun to count down from the ten minute mark, and from the readout on the screen, some kind of nuclear reactor underneath the compound would blow when the timer reached zero.

"Wolverine, contact Sage. See if there is anything we can do."

"Perhaps I can help."

The two X-Men turned towards the door to see an Asian women in her early thirties with long black hair and wire-rimmed glasses in a yellow shirt, black slacks and a white doctor's coat.

To be continued.


	3. Trini Kwan, Agent of SHIELD

A man in long red robes, his long black hair tied back in a ponytail, made his way across the main yard of the compound belonging to the Church of Oliver. In his arms was a satchel full of money. Bills could be seen flying out of the overstuffed bag as he mumbled to himself.

"This whole idea may be going up in smoke, but it is not a total loss."

Before he could move another foot, a shot rang out, striking the man in the back. As he fell face first in the dirt, blood poured out from under him where the shot went clean though him. From out of the shadows, a man in black fatigues with short cropped brown hair, wearing a black eye patch over his right eye, carried a sniper rifle as walked over towards the body of the dead man. He looked down at him before picking up the satchel of money.

"Cyclops to Archangel. I'm heading towards the rendezvous location now with an added bonus."

"Roger that, Cyclops. I have retrieved Iceman and the primary target and will be waiting," a female voice responded into Cyclops' ear.

In another part of the compound, an Asian woman had entered the room where Shadowcat and Wolverine had discovered a nuclear reactor had been set to blow in ten minutes, taking most of the state of California with it.

"Who the hell are you, darlin'?" Wolverine growled at the woman.

"Dr. Trini Kwan. I'm an agent of SHIELD. Until you X-Men showed up, I was undercover."

"What interest would SHIELD have in some fanatical religious cult?" Shadowcat raised an eyebrow as she questioned the doctor.

Taking off her glasses, Dr.Kwan rubbed the bridge of her nose before looking down at the computer screen. "You amateurs have been played. Think. Why would a religious cult have a nuclear reactor beneath their compound?"

"Are you saying we have got nothing to worry about?"

"Oh, you have plenty to worry about. You put the security of this nation at risk to rescue two teenagers."

Suddenly Kira Ford stepped forward, an angry look on her face as she was nose-to-nose with Dr. Kwan. "This man saved me from being raped." She pointed to Wolverine. "Are you saying my own government could care less about my safety?"

Dr. Kwan punched some keys on the keypad for the computer and the symbol for the terrorist group Hydra came up on the screen.

"Okay, so we're dealing with Hydra. That still does not answer the question about the nuclear reactor and we're running short on time," Wolverine snarled, losing his patience.

"Let me spell it out for you, genius. There is no nuclear reactor. That was a ruse to send you running. It is a worse scenario than that. This whole cult is a cover for a top secret Hydra base. They use the cult to recruit while in the underground lab, their scientists have made a great scientific breakthrough that could destroy the world in the wrong hands."

"What are we talking about here, doctor?"

"Do you X-Men not research jobs before you take them? Have you not wondered why there are more than one Dr. Thomas Oliver on this compound?"

"Didn't really care, doc." Wolverine smirked at Dr. Kwan.

"I don't have time for this," Dr. Kwan snapped. "The nuclear reactor may be a ruse, but there is an even bigger danger. Hydra has opened an interdimensional portal to different worlds. If they believe the government is onto them, they could try to implode the portal, taking a good portion of the west coast of North America with them. My back-up is over an hour away. As much as I loathe the idea, I'm going to have to ask you X-Men for help."

"That explains all the Dr. Olivers," Kira whispered to herself.

Wolverine pointed a finger in the face of Dr. Kwan. "We do not do pro bono work. If SHIELD cannot clean up its own messes, that's your problem not ours."

Shadowcat moved between the two and looked Wolverine in the eyes. "She's right. We have to help, because no one toys with this pussycat. I'm going to rest until I lick Dr. Oliver's blood off my claws. You get Kira to the rendezvous location and I will go with Dr. Kwan."

"Now wait a minute, darlin'. There's no way I am letting you go up against Hydra alone. I'm coming with you."

"Baby, please. Keep the mission objective in mind. I'll be fine. You have trained me well."

Before Wolverine could object, Cyclops spoke into his ear piece. "Shadowcat is right, Wolverine. Her technical expertise will come in handy. Your job is to get the girl back here safely."

"I do not like that plan one bit, bub," he growled into his microphone.

At that moment, Shadowcat embraced Wolverine in a passionate kiss before slowly pulling away. "I love you and I will be fine," she mouthed softly.

"I know." He winked at his young lover. Reaching into a pouch on his belt, he handed her a com link ear piece She adjusted around her her right ear. Shadowcat then placed her sleek, black gloves on each hand before flexing and revealing five claws from the fingertips.

Wolverine and Kira then rushed out of the building as Dr. Kwan and Shadowcat raced further into it. They stopped at a locker with a keypad. Dr. Kwan then punched in a code. When it didn't work, she pounded against the locker door, frustrated.

"Stand back, doc."

Shadowcat striked the door with her claws and ripped it open. Once inside, the two women armed themselves with what Dr. Kwan called "electromagnetic pulse rifles" before rushing to a secret elevator and riding it down to the lowest level. Once they exited the elevator, they made their way behind some crates on the platform. Looking down at the lab from their hiding spot, they noticed scientists in their lab coats and Hydra soldiers in their green uniforms and masks. Looking over the lab, Shadowcat's eyes went wide in shock at the sight of a giant tube with the giant ghostly head of Dr. Anton Mercer floating inside.

"What in the name of God...?!"

To be continued.


	4. Dimension

"I am seeing what you see, Shadowcat," came the voice of Cyclops from over the ear piece. A small miniature camera built into it allowed her to transmit back to the X-Men's high-tech aircraft, the Blackbird, which in turn would transfer the feedback to the Xavier estate.

"Sage, are you receiving the feed?"

"Roger that, Cyclops. To be honest, neither X nor I know what to make of it."

"I am guessing your little friends are as shocked as you are," Dr Kwan said to Shadowcat who still had a look of disbelief on her face.

"Just what are we looking at here, Dr. Kwan?" Kitty asked her new-found partner.

"The result of interdimensional travel gone wrong. Very wrong."

"Yeah, that giant floating head in a tube sort of screams 'we fucked up,'" Shadowcat sarcastically remarked.

"If you are through being a smart ass, I will give you a quick debriefing. Dr. Mercer and Dr. Oliver were partners. They believed there exists an infinite number of dimensions, a multiverse if you will. When the money dried up for their research, they turned to the only ones willing to back them – Hydra."

"Wait a minute. I thought Dr. Mercer was worth millions."

"Would you risk all you money on such a shaky theory?"

"Good point."

Shaking her head, Dr. Kwan continued on. "Hydra was already planning to set up a recruitment and training center on the west coast, so Madame Hydra, after consulting with her advisers, came up with the plan to use Dr. Oliver as their front man, calling this place the Church of Oliver. They thought it provided the perfect cover for two operations under the same roof. At this point, Dr. Mercer had second thoughts and made contact with the U.S Government, which in turn lead to SHIELD'S involvement. Just by pure dumb luck, Hydra transferred me to this assignment at that point."

"You were already inside Hydra before this all began?"

"Yes, now if I may continue. Hydra got wind of Dr. Mercer's betrayal though its agents within our own government. So they made an example of Dr. Mercer by using him as the first interdimensional traveler. You can see for yourself how that turned out. All that's left of him now is a huge blob of ectoplasm energy."

"Ectoplasm? Like in the movie Ghostbusters? You're saying he's a ghost?"

"To put it mildly, yes. Dr. Mercer's body was not able to endure the strain. His mind, however, was. Hydra scientists were able to contain what most would call his soul, trapping it between worlds in this huge electromagnetic container. Notice how circles of electricity flow up and down the tube? They hold his essence between dimensions. So far they have not been able to send anyone through one of the portals safely from our side, but I'm sure you are aware of the number of Thomas Olivers on this compound?"

"You don't mean..."

"Figures, he's the same jerk in every dimension." Wolverine blew smoke from his cigar through his nose as he spoke, leaning back in the black leather seat he was reclining upon in the Blackbird. In the back, Cyclops stood with a a woman in black fatigues with long blonde hair, sunglasses pushed up in her hair above her eyes as they monitor the situation.

"You don't seem to concerned with your girlfriend being all alone back there, Mr. Tough Guy," Kira said to Wolverine as she rocked Trent who had passed out from his wounds in her arms.

"Kitty can take care of herself. If I were to worry for anyone, it would be those Hydra goons."

Back inside the lab, Shadowcat and Dr. Kwan watched on as lights around a huge circular metal ring atop a metal ramp began to light up. Then with a loud whoosh, what appeared to be some sort of liquid exploded outwards before retracting back in, and the vision before them was stunning to say the least - men riding on huge dinosaurs as they work constructing the Pyramid. A flash of light and the scene changed to Washington D.C where in place of Lincoln, Hitler sat on the Washington monument. It showed more of the strange world. Nazi flags decorated the White House and a statue shown, depicting a man with a red skull face choking out a man in a mask dressed in the colors of the American flag. The scene flashed once more and Kitty looked on shock as she saw Cyclops and Iceman along with a couple of other familiar faces on the grounds of the Xavier estate, only they were younger than the men she now knew. Next they were dressed in yellow and black spandex, Iceman's body covered in ice. They were on the grounds of a NASA base, facing down a man in a red-looking suit with a matching helmet and cape. Cyclops shot red lasers from his eyes as Iceman attacked with ice and snow. The others with them she is uncertain of except for one.

Before she had time to ponder any further, the scene shifted to show six teenagers. Shadowcat recognized a young Dr. Thomas Oliver as well as a younger version of the Hydra agent named Kim whom she killed earlier in the night.

"Watch this," Dr. Kwan urged Shadowcat.

The one called Jason, dressed in red, stepped up in front of the others, pulling out a device. He held it in front of him and yelled out, "IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!" Shadowcat watched as each of the six teenagers called out the name of a dinosaur. Each was then morphed into a brightly-colored spandex suit with a helmet.

"Hydra is looking to pull one or all of those kids through the portal. If they can discover the power behind this so-called Morphing Grid, they might be unstoppable."

"So you are telling me this Morphing Grid is not just some Hydra cover story, that it's real?"

"Apparently so."

"I have seen enough. Get out of there now, Shadowcat. This does not concern the X-Men anymore and I will not have a member of my team put their life on the line when the risk out weighs the reward," Cyclops ordered the young woman as he watched the camera feed on the Blackbird.

"I agree with one eye, darlin'. Get your fine little ass back here now." Wolverine's gruff voice spoke into her ear.

"Roger that."

As Shadowcat stood to turn and leave, Dr. Kwan grabbed her by the arm.

"Where are you going?"

"I am out of here, doc. This is no longer X-Men business."

"No, you cannot just leave with the job..."

"You got that right."

Both women turned to face two Hydra agents in their green uniforms and masks with the yellow Hydra symbol on the chest, pointing their weapons directly at them.


	5. Coup de Grace

"On your feet," one of the guards growled as the two guards pointed their guns at the two women who slowly rose to their feet.

"My friend here is looking for the ladies room if you could just point us in the right direction we will be on our way." Shadowcat flashed a smile at the two guards.

"Nice try lady but..." Before the guard can finish, Shadowcat kicked him in the side of the head. As she pulled back, a blade can be seen extended from the toe of her boot. Quickly grabbing the other man, she slashed his throat with her claws.

"Come on, Doc, we have to get out of here before more guards show up."

"I'm not going anywhere, Shadowcat. I have a job to finish. Unlike you and your comrades, I care about my country more than money."

"Suit yourself, Doc."

Suddenly, a shot rung out and whizzed past the two women as they turn to see three armed guards heading in their direction. Shadowcat rolled to the floor and picked up a gun from one of the dead guards. She squeezed off a shot at the guard going for the alarm. The killing blow hit him just as his hand pressed the alarm button.

"Damn it! This has gone from bad to worse."

"For you maybe, Doc. As for me, I'm out of here."

Shadowcat touched a small button on her belt. A look of worry fell over her face as nothing happened.

"Shadowcat to Cyclops. I have a problem. Nightcrawler is not responding.

Inside the Blackbird, Wolverine grabbed Cyclops by the collar with a snarling growl. "We're not leaving her, One Eye. You hear me?"

"Relax, Wolverine. I never left a member of my unit behind in Iraq and I'm not going to here either. Dr. Kwan said Hydra could not send people through the dimensional gateway from this side, but could receive. Perhaps if Shadowcat can't come to us we, can go to her. Nightcrawler should theoretically work from this end. Wolverine and Iceman, follow me into the breach. Archangel, you watch over our guest and prepare for takeoff upon our return."

Iceman opened a closet space full of uniforms and weapons, passing guns off to the other two men before they all press the little buttons on the belts and vanish in a dazzling blue light.

"What was that?" Kira asked with an astonished look on her face.

"That was our high tech teleportation system, Nightcrawler." Archangel smiled at the young girl.

Inside the underground base on a huge screen appeared the face of Madame Hydra.

"You have intruders in the facilities and a Shield unit en route. Set the base for self-destruction. If we cannot have the dimensional portal no one can."

The man in the green Hydra suit and hood brought his arm to his chest in salute. " Hail Hydra!"

The Hydra agent pushed the button just as three dazzling blue lights appear in the underground base, signaling the arrival of the X-Men who enter with their guns blazing.

"Cyclops, I'm going to find Shadowcat!." Wolverine screamed over the gunfire as he rushed up a set of stairs, mowing down four Hydra agents in his path.

"This doesn't look good, Cyclops!" Iceman screamed at the team's field leader as he looked up at the clock, which is counting down from ten minutes.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Wolverine finds Shadowcat and Dr. Kwan. "Logan, am I glad to see you. We have a huge problem. They have set the base to self-destruct and it could take half the West Coast with it.

"You two see what you can do to stop the count down. I got your backs." Wolverine turned and fired at the Hydra agents coming from their rear while Shadowcat charged down the stairs slashing everyone and everything in her path until they reached the large computer console. Shadowcat started furiously typing in figures in an attempt to find the correct access code.

"Sage, can you hack into their system?"

"I'm attempting to now, Shadowcat, but I'm not having any luck."

"Doc, do you have any idea? You have been with Hydra long enough."

"I was never given access to this project. And to be honest, I'm scared out of my wits at this moment."

"Perhaps I can be of some help." The two women turned looking up to the giant floating head of Anton Mercer.

"No offense, Dr. Mercer, but what can a ghost like yourself do?" Shadowcat asked in a dry tone of voice.

"If you were to opening this chamber holding me, it should be enough to pull the explosion between dimensions along with this whole chamber."

"Could this work, Doc?" Shadowcat asked Dr. Kwan.

"Theoretically, yes."

"Then let's give it a try. Cyclops, be ready to evacuate. We may have a solution to the problem."

"Roger that. Cyclops to Gambit, prepare to let loose on my command." He spoke to another member of his team in his earpiece as he stood back to back with Iceman picking off Hydra agents.

"Copy that, Cyclops."

"Enter this code, my dear. Alpha 390Omega478Beta152."

"Done."

"Good. This will open my chamber just before the explosion and hopefully make up for my part in this affair."

"Not for me to judge, Dr. Mercer. Now we have to get out of here." Shadowcat grabbed Dr. Kwan by the arm and the two women join the rest of the X-Men racing up the stairs to the upper part of the complex.

"Gambit, we are on our way. Clear us a path outside."

"Will do, mon ami."

As they entered the upper part of the building, the ground beneath them is rocked from explosions, knocking the advancing Hydra agents off their feet. Throughout the compound buildings blew up as the X-men and Dr. Kwan raced outside.

"Hold on tight, Doc, this could get bumpy." Shadowcat took hold of Dr. Kwan. Pushing the button on her belt, she teleports out with the rest of the X-Men, appearing just outside the Blackbird.

"Well, Doc, I guess this is good bye. You can wait for your Shield unit here." Shadowcat told the other woman.

"You X-Men can't just up and leave after all..." Suddenly the Earth beneath them begun to shake. After a minute, everything calmed down.

"Looks like Dr. Mercer was right. He was able to contain the blast. And as for you, Dr. Kwan, how do plan to stop us from leaving?" He nodded to Iceman who is playing with his knife.

"Are you threatening me?"

"Nothing of the sort, Dr. Kwan."

Suddenly, Archangel stuck her head out the door to the Blackbird. "Scott, we have a problem."

The team rushed on board as Shadowcat turned looking back at Dr. Kwan. "Nice working with you, Doc."

As Shadowcat closed the door, Iceman checked the pulse of Trent, finding the young man dead while Cyclops looked around the jet. "Where's the girl?"

"That's the problem. She managed to get one of the Nightcrawler belts from the security closet and teleport out. She took the money with her as well."

"Son of a bitch! Cyclops slammed his fist into his hand in anger.

"Don't worry about the money, mon ami. I know how we can make up for it."

Standing at the back of the Blackbird having just teleported in is the X-Men's explosives expert, Gambit, in black fatigues, smoking a cigarette. He held onto the black robes of Dr. Thomas Oliver.

"We got incoming, One Eye," Wolverine said standing over the radar watching the blimps on the screen.

"Everyone strap yourselves in. Archangel, get this bird airborne and cloaked."

Outside, Dr. Kwan watched the Blackbird lift off in the full moonlight before it disappeared into the night sky.

The next day inside the Xavier Institute deep underground in a medical ward which is all sterile steel, we find Dr. Thomas Oliver stripped down to his underwear strapped down to a metal table as Charles Xavier in a white lab coat walks up to him.

"Dr. Oliver, I'm Charles Xavier. I'm afraid your association with Hydra has cost me millions."

"What do you want me to do about that?"

"I know you have amassed a fortune and you will be signing it over to me to make up for what you have cost me."

"And if I don't?"

"Then you will discover why my associate, Dr. Henry McCoy, is called the Beast."

Looking over, Dr. Oliver saw a large man in a white lab coat and glasses pick up a syringe, which he pushed on squirting liquid.

As the scene faded from the room, loud screams could be heard.

At a secluded beach in Acapulco, Kira Ford sat in a beach chair under an umbrella in a yellow bikini with a drink in her hand. Sitting next to her in a similar yellow bikini is a young woman with long black hair.

"I hate you had to go through all that to get the money, Kira."

"Yeah, nothing went as planned. But in the end, we got the money we were after.

"That we did. Now we can live the sweet life."

"Have I told you lately I love you, Z?" Kira reached over and the two young women engaged in a passionate kiss.


End file.
